four children under five years

[loulou5]

Hi,
I was just wondering if anyone knows what the rules are on having four children under five years old.

Is it a definate NO from ofsted or do they consider invidual circumstances.

At the moment i am allowed 6 under 8's, 3 of which can be under 5 yrs and not more than 1 under one year. Am allowed to double these numbers with an assistant.

The problem is i won't have an assistant.

Thanks

See page 7 of Childminding Revisions to Guidance, 2004 - HMI 2089

Four under 5's tends to be for Siblings / Continuity of care.

If you have an assistant, you shouldn't be able to actually double your numbers.

Assuming the assistant is not a registered childminder themselves, it usually means that you would still only be able to have a maximum of 6 children under 8, but all of them could be under 5 (and therefore none in the 5-8 bracket).